It's true--you can play a lot of great music without knowing
how to tune a guitar. But guitars naturally go out of tune as
you play them for a while. And if your guitar-tuning friend
isn't around when your guitar starts to go sour, you're stuck!
It doesn't matter how much great music you've mastered--it'll
sound like madness and confusion on an out-of-tune guitar.

Fortunately for beginning guitar players, guitar tuning is a
pretty easy skill to master. And it'll improve your ear (your
listening skills) which will become increasingly important as
you progress with the guitar.

Note: This 2torial is for acoustic and electric guitars, except
those electrics with Floyd Rose whammy bars, in which case
you're on your own.

What are notes in tune? No notes are actually wrong--they
just might not work together for a particular instrument or
style of music. Classical Indian musicians play notes that are
bizzarely out of tune compared to Western music; yet those
notes are entirely correct within that tradition.

With the guitar, in tune means that all strings have the proper
tension in relation to one another. The proper tension
produces the correct pitches, or sounds. These pitches sound
good when the relationships are correct, and they sound
dissonant (noisy and disorderly) when they're not.

You probably have one of three types of guitars: a standard
steel-stringed folk guitar, a nylon-stringed classical guitar, or
some variety of electric guitar.

All of these types have six strings, and the strings
arranged in size from thickest to thinnest, with the
thickest on the top. Confused? If you hold the guitar
on your lap horizontally, the thickest string should be
closest to the ceiling. The strings are often numbered
one to six, with six referring to the thickest string.

Frets are the thin strips of metal that are inlaid on the
wood of the fretboard, and the number you have will
vary a bit, depending on your guitar. Folk guitars
have clearance (you can play notes) to 14 frets,
classical guitars to 12, and electrics have up to 24
frets. Frets are numbered one to 12 (or 14, etc.)
starting from the head-end of the guitar neck.

Tuning pegs: these are six small, metal
mechanisms located on the head of the guitar (which
is located at the end of the long, skinny neck).
They're responsible for changing the tension of the
strings.

Interestingly, the main skill for tuning a guitar is to listen and
identify notes that are not in tune. By listening for the
out-of-tune notes and then adjusting the tuning pegs, you can
tune those unwanted notes out of existence.

What does "out of tune" sound like? Two
strings that are similar in pitch, but not in tune, do
something interesting. When two out-of-tune notes
are plucked one right after the other, the resulting
sound is wavering and wobbly. Think of it as a siren
that's yelling "I'm out-of-tune, I'm out-of-tune!"
Why this happens is a short lesson in the physics of
sound waves, which you might not want right now,
but you should understand this image:

You start the tuning process with the sixth string (the thickest
one). Here you have two options. Relative tuning is suitable
for the beginner guitarist, or for the intermediate guitarist
who's feeling a bit lazy. Concert, or absolute tuning, is for
more experienced guitarists who are playing with other
musicians, or for the very keen beginner guitar player.
Actually, concert tuning isn't much more difficult to do, but if
a beginner should avoid taking on too many challenges and
possibly becoming frustrated.

Relative tuning

This method doesn't use an external source to certify that, for
example, the sixth string is vibrating at exactly the right
speed.

Instead, you pick a tone that sounds and feels good.
It should be a nice deep tone, but listen for the
signs of excessively low string tension. If a string is
too low, it'll rattle on the frets or make a buzzing
sound. If you hear that, tighten up the tuning peg for
the sixth string until you hear the pitch rise and the
buzz disappear.

If the string is difficult to press down, or heaven
forbid, the tuning peg is difficult to turn, you've
overtightened the string and you need to loosen the
tension. If you've overtightened the string, loosen
the string slowly or the sudden change of tension
may cause the string to break.

Concert tuning:

With concert tuning you use a separate device to determine the
absolutely correct tone for that string, no matter what guitar
you play with or where you are in the world. Examples of
such devices are tuning forks, pitch pipes, or a piano that is in
tune.

Let's say you're using a tuning fork. Take a look
at it and see what letter is written on it--usually A but
sometimes E. You'll be producing a tone with the
tuning fork and matching the string to that tone. Use
an A tuning fork to tune the 5th string, or an E fork
for the sixth string.

Strike the fork on some firm but soft-edged
surface, like your knee. (You never want to strike a
tuning fork on something rigid like a bookshelf or a
chair leg--that'll eventually ding up the tuning fork
and impair its tone.)

Quickly do these two actions: place the base of
tuning fork (not the forked part) on the guitar just by
the strings. You should hear the sound of the tuning
fork resonate in the guitar. Very soon after that, play
the string that matches the pitch of the tuning fork. If
it's an A fork, you're tuning the 5th string with it.
Afterwards you'll go on to tune the 6th string by
matching it with the 5th string. If it's an E fork, tune
the 6th string, and tune the rest of the strings as you
would with relative tuning.

And most important! Any time you try to match
two tones (one which is correct and the other which
isn't) start the out-of-tune string lower than the
tuning fork's tone. That is, loosen the out-of-tune
string until it's lower (much lower, if you're not sure
you're going in the right direction) than the correct
tone. You should always arrive at the right tone
from below (by tightening a string that's too loose)
and not from above (by loosening a string that's too
tight).

In this step you'll learn the pattern for tuning the strings that
will work for almost all of the strings. The one exception, the
2nd string, is discussed in Step 5.

Assuming you have a good tone with the 6th string,
you're ready to begin the actual tuning process.
You're going to match the tone of the 6th with the
tone of the 5th, and you'll do this by playing the
same note on each string, one after the other. This is
where you listen for the wave--the wavering,
wobbling sound tells you that the two sound waves
aren't together and aren't in tune.

For concert tuning: if you have an A tuning fork,
you'll fret the 6th string on the 5th fret as shown in
the diagram below--but you'll adjust the 6th string's
tuning peg, instead of the 5th string's peg. This will
match the 6th string to the 5th string.)

Which two notes do I compare? you may be
wondering. Place your non-dominant hand's index or
middle finger on 5th fret of the 6th string. You don't,
however, put your finger exactly on the fret--it
should be just behind the fret on the side closer to the
head of the guitar (i.e., further away from you.)

Using your dominant hand's thumb (or a guitar pick)
play the 6th string at the 5th fret. Very soon
after that, play the 5th string open--no fingers on
any fret. Listen to the two tones. Hear the wave? The
wobbly sound?

Now what? Amazingly, the slightly obscure theory
in Step 2 has a very practical application to guitar
tuning. Try to change the 5th string to match the
sound of the 6th string--you can do this by playing
the notes with your dominant hand, and then very
quickly reaching over to adjust the 5th string's tuning
peg. Listen now for the speed of the wavering
sounds. If the waves seem to speed up, you're
putting the string even further out of tune. If you hear
the waves slow down, you're getting closer to the
right pitch. Once you hear the waves slow down and
gradually disappear, you've got it. Well done!

And most important! Any time you try to match
two tones (one which is correct and the other which
isn't) start the out-of-tune string lower than the
string that's in tune. That is, loosen the out-of-tune
string until it's lower (much lower, if you're not sure
you're going in the right direction) than the correct
one. You should always arrive at the right tone
from below (by tightening a string that's too loose)
and not from above (by loosening a string that's too
tight).

Repeat this process with the 4th and 3rd strings.
Once the 5th string sounds good, fret it at the 5th fret,
and play the 4th string open. Again, listen for the
waves and adjust the 4th string's tuning peg to match
the sounds. Keep going to tune the 3rd string: fret the
4th string on the 5th fret, and play the 3rd string
open, and match the sounds. You'll tune the first
string the same way: fret the 2nd string on the fifth
fret and playing the first string open (but hold off on
that for now).

For concert tuning: if you have an A tuning fork,
you'll fret the 6th string on the 5th fret as shown in
the diagram above--but you'll adjust the 6th
string's tuning peg, instead of the 5th string's
peg. This will match the untuned 6th string to the
tuned 5th string.)

While tuning the second string is different than what you've
done so far, it's actually a simple process.

What's the difference? When you tune the 2nd
string, you have to fret the 3rd string on the 4th fret
(not the 5th, as you have been doing), and play the
second string open, and adjust the 2nd string's tuning
peg. It's that easy. And remember--any time you try
to match two tones (one which is correct and the
other which isn't) start the out-of-tune string lower
than the string that's in tune. You should always
arrive at the right tone from below (by
tightening a string that's too loose) and not from
above (by loosening a string that's too tight).So,
loosen the out-of-tune string until it's lower (much
lower, if you're not sure you're going in the right
direction) than the correct one.

Listen again for the speed of the wavering sounds.
If the waves seem to speed up, you're putting the
string even further out of tune. If you hear the waves
slow down, you're getting closer to the right pitch.
Once you hear the waves slow down and gradually
disappear, you've got it.

The final string: Tune the first string by fretting
the 2nd string on 5th fret, and play the first string
open. Match the two tones, and you're done.
Due to the laws of music theory and the limitations of guitar
construction, a guitar cannot be tuned perfectly to every chord at
the same time. To tune it perfectly to one chord will make the
guitar slightly out of tune in another chord, although not
offensively so. For this reason, try out your tuning skills in a
chord that you might be playing in the near future, or just an
open chord that you find easy to play, like the major chords of
A, C, D, E, or G.

Choose a chord you'd like to play, and slowly play
each note successively.

Hear any sour notes? If something doesn't sound
right, play all of the notes of the chord again, and
identify which notes are the bad apples.

Fix the bum notes. Play the whole chord again, and
quickly reach over with your dominant hand (which
has just strummed the chord) to the tuning peg of the
out of tune string. Give it a quick twist down to loosen
the string, and turn it back up with the chord still
ringing. You should hear the note match with the rest
of the chord as you bring it up to the correct pitch. If it
still doesn't sound right, repeat this action as
necessary.

Here's an alternate posture for tuning to a chord: Push
the guitar across your lap so that the head is closer to
your body. It'll be easier to adjust the tuning peg right
after you play the chord.